Drainage conduits made of plastic material are commonly used for underground applications such as domestic, agricultural, forestry and industrial drainage, and waste disposal systems. Generally, drainage conduits have corrugations that provide transversal reinforcement to minimize the possibility of collapse when they are buried. These corrugations, which may and may be defined by individually spaced apart rings or by one helicoidal extending corrugation, may further flexibility to the conduits, allowing them to be bent lengthwise.
Conventional drainage conduits are often found in sections having a length as long as 20 or 40 feet. When installed in the field, these sections generally need to be assembled end to end to define a drainage path that is longer than the available length of drainage conduit sections.
The assembly of consecutive drainage conduit sections may be both tedious and time consuming, since it is generally performed on site (i.e., in a trench in the ground), and often requires the manipulation of large diameters and lengthy conduit sections having various flexibilities. Additionally, drainage conduits often carry liquid or semi-liquid matter which generally needs to be kept inside.
Accordingly, there is a need for a connector assembly that allows the assembly of two consecutive sections of drainage conduits end to end in such a way as to minimize separation occurrences and that facilitates eventual disassembly. The present invention seeks to meet this and related needs.